Behind the mask
by Elsewhere723
Summary: What if Jason had come for Aria at the Masquerade instead of Ezra? Feelings an emotions can't be ignored no matter how hard they try.


**Playlist: She will be loved—Maroon five**

**So did anyone else secretly hope that Jason turned up for Aria instead of Ezra? ;)**

What was he doing there? It's not like he knew anyone there wouldn't just talk to him to be polite. Actually, that was a lie. There was a girl, the reason he came, that wouldn't care to talk to him. She actually wanted to talk to him. He ran his hand through his shaggy hair. He knew it was a bad idea.

He was the loser. He was the guy whose sister was murdered. He was the loner. And he wasn't the guy Aria Montgomery deserved. That much he knew. By the first fifteen minutes of the masquerade, he had managed to talk himself out of following through with his plan. He didn't know what the hell he was thinking.

In a rush to get out of there before Aria saw him he didn't pay attention and bumped into a young brunette.

"Jason?" a familiar voice asked him.

"Spencer?" he asked the brunette.

"What are you doing here?" Even though she only knew he was her brother for a short time, she did grow up with him. And the Jason she remembered was never the formal party type.

"Just came to see how lame it was," Jason said acting as if was not a big deal. Spencer smirked at knowing the real reason he was there.

"What's the real reason?" Spencer smirked again as if she didn't already know her half-brother's reason.

That's right. Jason forgot she was the product of two lawyers. She knew how to spot a lie when it was told to her.

"Would that reason, happen to be that a certain Montgomery doesn't have a date?" Spencer tried again. Spencer took his glare and his body language as a yes.

"Why don't you go for it?" Spencer asked confused. She loved her best friend but, in her opinion what's a relationship worth if you have to hide from everyone you care about?

"I've been there, and she turned me away." Jason said raising his voice. Spencer looked at her older brother and started to smile.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Do you not know anything about girls?" Spencer asked amused. She took one look at his confused face and took pity on him.

"It was always you," she sighed. "YOU were the first guy she loved. YOU were the only guy she thought of for years. She still loves YOU."

"What about her boyfriend?" Jason asked not convinced.

"Don't you get it?" she asked defeated. "He was available and he wanted her. She waited years for you. Aria eventually realized she had to move on and get over you. And if she didn't start with Fitz, then she would never get over you."

"I screwed up," Jason realized. He only hoped that it wasn't years too late.

"Yeah you did," Spencer said offering a small smile. She would love nothing more seeing her brother and one of her best friends happy together. Spencer gave him a small shove, "Now go find your girl." If someone deserved a happy ending after the stuff they have been through, it was them.

Aria had a nagging feeling in her stomach that someone was watching her. It didn't feel like being watched by A, but by someone she knew. Every corner she turned she kept imagining a tall guy with brown hair and that was wearing a suit would come to her rescue. Every time she turned a corner she was disappointed.

Suddenly she got an intense and an exciting feeling when she noticed a familiar head of brown hair with his back to her. _He came. He came back for her_. She couldn't believe it. Before she could tell what she was doing she was already racing towards the figure in the mask.

"Ezra!" Aria shouted reaching for the guy's shoulder. She could see the guy's confusion shown through the eye holes in his mask. That wasn't her prince. He didn't come for her. Disappointed and embarrassed she mumbled a quick 'Sorry' and ran away from masked guy.

She couldn't help but wonder if she was always going to be disappointed by Ezra Fitz. Their love was poisonous from the start. She heard her phone beep and she reached for it. On the screen she saw a new text form Spencer.

**Meet me at the mirror maze, it's important—Spencer **

Aria tried to move carefully through all the bodies of hormonal teenagers. With Ezra, it just felt like so long since she had been just be a teenager. That thought somehow lead her to think of Jason. With Jason things were just so passionate and carefree—things were easy with Jason DiLaurentis. She couldn't say the same for Ezra.

She walked through the entrance of the mirror maze and immediately started looking for Spencer. No one was hardly in the maze so finding her in the maze should've been easy. Out of nowhere she noticed a masked figure with a head full of shaggy brown hair sitting on the bench that had been placed in the maze earlier that day.

"Ezra?" Aria couldn't help but whisper even though she knew who it was. She tool cautious steps toward the masked figure.

Jason DiLaurentis turned his head at the sound of Aria's footsteps. This was the moment that would change everything.

"You look beautiful." Jason said trying to be sound normal, even though his heart was beating like crazy.

"Thanks" Aria whispered. She wasn't sure how she felt about the unexpected compliment. Jason stood up from the bench and walked to where he was staring into Aria's eyes. The same brown eyes that captured his heart.

"Have you seen Spencer? I'm supposed to meet her here." Aria glanced down so she wouldn't have to look into Jason's kind eyes.

"No actually," Jason cleared his throat. "Spencer didn't want to meet you here, I did."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Aria asked confused. That was one of the thing Jason loved about her, she cared more about others than herself.

"Everything's fine," he said quickly. He thought about backing out but he knew Spencer would kill him—painfully—in his sleep.

"Then why'd you want to talk to me?" That was also something Jason loved—her impatience.

"I have something I need to say, and let me finished before you say anything. Okay?" Jason asked for conformation and Aria just nodded her head.

"It's always been you. Your impatience, your temper, your selflessness, all of it. You're the one who never stops entering my mind. And you're the one who I don't want a second of another day without."

"What are you trying to say?" Aria asked her eyes watering.

"It's always been you. I've always loved you." Jason moved closer. Her lifted her chin and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. He inched his face closer to Aria's. Before they both knew it there engaged in a full lip lock. They were interrupted with a text on Aria's phone. Arian read it and couldn't help but smile.  
><strong>Let me knows how it goes ;) –Spencer<strong>

Aria knew that moments with Ezra would never be those carefree public intimate moments. But with Jason she could have it all. Ezra was never her true prince. It turned out to be the stoner-turned lawyer- turned next door neighbor. Aria knew that their lives were far from perfect, but at that moment life couldn't be more perfect. And from that moment they loved happily ever after.


End file.
